In my opinion those new to iPhone/iPod Touch programming should
just jump right in. Of course it helps to have knowledge of another
programming language (procedural or object-oriented) in the sense that a
knowledge of core programming concepts and data structures may have been
learned. The advantage of NOT knowing any other programming language is that
there are no concepts and/or habits that have to be unlearned. Objects and
messaging in Objective-C and the Objective-C language/syntax may then seem
"natural" since they know no other way. Having said that there is an awful
lot to learn -- Objective-C, basic programming concepts and data structures,
object-oriented programming concepts, Xcode and Interface Builder, design
patterns, the Cocoa Touch APIs, and memory management. As other posters
have said Objective-C is a superset of C and you can mix Objective-C with
C++. I think a course in iPhone/iPod Touch can be done for those new to
programming if it is structured properly. Snow Leopard (coming in the next
few weeks or so I would imagine) includes a really nice enhancement to Xcode
in which the Clang Static Analyzer has been integrated into the build
process. Memory leaks are highlighted with bubble messages and curved line
arrows point to the offending source which makes it easier to eliminate
these types of problems.
Two discussions on the cocoa-dev mailing list may provide you with a
broader perspective on learning Objective-C and Cocoa: Guidance for Cocoa's
Steep Learning Curve from the cocoa-dev archive at
http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/message/cocoa/2008/5/15/206700 and How
Hard is it to Learn Cocoa - Survey? at
http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/message/cocoa/2008/5/25/208234 .
However, your mileage may vary since it is from the perspective of
professional software developers and writers. And as another poster has said
there are a lot of tutorials on the web as well as books to help the
learning process by "playing" by writing toy apps.
Have fun -- I know the students will!
Regards,
Danton Chin
Blog: http://iphonedeveloperjournal.com/
On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 9:15 AM, Keith E Gatling <keith@gatling.us> wrote:
> I've got a quick question out there for anyone who might have the answer.
> When learning how to write apps for the iPod Touch and the iPhone, does it
> help to have previous programming skills (like Java or C++), or can one
> just
> jump right in? I've been asked to prepare to teach just such a course next
> fall, and want to know what I'm getting myself and my potential students
> into - especially if THEY don't have any programming background.
>
> Thanks.
> --
> keg
>
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